1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a class of locking pliers, or vise grips in general, and more particularly to a push-pull pliers with hammers equipped with a removable sliding hammer assembly for pushing or pulling a workpiece gripped by the pliers in the direction perpendicular to the pointing direction of the pliers, and a fixed jaw with hammer head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pulling pliers have been used in the field of automotive repairing and wood working industries. The pliers are used to pull alignment pins out of engine blocks, a bolt out of the corroded hole, cotter pins, broken drill bits, nails from the wall, staples from a piece of wood, etc. There are various designs of the pulling pliers in the field, such as: Traction Applying Tool, U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,012; Locking Plier and Adapter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,635; Extraction Device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,341; Tool for Extracting Headed Nails, U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,272; Aluminum Window Frame Extractor and Method, U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,144; and Pulling Pliers Method and Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 8,407,874. However, all of these prior arts are used to pull out in one direction only, not the opposite direction (to push in). On the other hand, the direction of pulling of all these prior arts are in-line with (parallel to) the pointing direction of the pliers. That means there must be enough space above or in front of the workpiece to fit the pliers and the sliding hammer mechanism. In case the workpiece is located inside a recessed area where there is not enough space to fit the pliers and the sliding hammer mechanism above or in front of the workpiece, then the direction of hammering force will not align with the pulling direction of the workpiece. In this case, the hammering action of these prior arts may not be strong enough or may not be possible to pull out the workpiece. Furthermore, in order to pull out a workpiece with all these prior arts, the workpiece must be clamped at its free end. In the case of a long tube or long pipe where its free end cannot be reached, these prior arts will not be applicable. It is the intention of the present invention to solve these problems.